The leading role in building and creating the classic archival institution of the region played Poltava Scientific Archives Commission (PSAC), which was established under the Regulation "On the establishment of scientific archival commissions and historical archives" on April 13, 1884.

Official opening of the Commission was on 26 October (8 November), 1903 in Poltava. The high level of organizational issues in the creation of scientific and archival institution is demonstrated by a conspicuous fact: the chairman and trustee of the PSAC was appointed Poltava Governor Prince M. Urusov, and Secretary-Governor – was appointed a known historian I. Pavlovskyi.

PSAC started its activities in order to organize archives in the province, identify, organize and preserve valuable archival material. The main areas of activity were the conservation and study of the memorial material of the past, popularization of historical knowledge. The archaeological and journalistic heritage of Poltava Scientific Archives Commission is very significant. The commission’s press organ "Labor Poltava Scientific Archive Commission" (15 volumes for the 1905-1917) contains a number of documentaries, research, in-depth scientific research; in separate editions were published "Registers of Poltava City Government of the Seventeenth Century", "Materials for People’s Literature of Poltava Province. Romny country, " etc.

Despite the fact that Poltava Scientific Archives Commission worked in conditions of Russian autocracy almost all areas of its activities contributed to the development of Ukrainian history and Ukrainian studies. State Archives of Poltava Region is the largest treasury of documents on the history of Poltava, which houses more than 6910 funds, 1 310 000 cases. The oldest document dates of 1693. There are three unique documents (universals of Ukrainian hetmans Ivan Mazepa, Kyrylo Razumovskyi and Skoropadskyi). In addition to the card documents, in the Archives there are preserved films, photos, phono-, video documents.

All the documents are stored in 12 depositories, the total area of which is 1941.4 square meters; the length of the racking shelves is 12082.5 lin. m. The documents that are stored secretly account for only 0.007%. According to conservative estimates the cash value of the documents is about 20 mln. UAH.

Every year the State Archives issues more than 1000 topical, biographical, genealogical certificates and information of social and legal nature. Two reading rooms are open in the Archives to meet the needs in the retrospective data. There users are able to use 14 thematic indexes, as well as systematic, geographic and name directories. The scientific reference fund contains more than 13 000 books and brochures dated from 1846 to 2013. The basis of scientific reference fund of the Archives consists of literature on the history of Poltava, Reports of Poltava governors, reviews of agriculture, commemorative books, reports of provincial and country authorities, works of Poltava Scientific Archives Commission, materials of the household and economic enumerations in the districts of the province. In scientific reference fund contains publications in archival affairs, library science, world history, sociology, philosophy, law, etc. Periodicals are presented by the central and local newspapers. Alphabetic and thematic directories make the reference tools of the scientific reference fund.

Second World War caused the State Archives of Poltava region irreparable loss. They managed to evacuate about 70 thousand cases in September, 1941. The bulk of the documents (1 572 795 units) were lost.

The funds of period of the Russian empire are contained by documents the Poltava province and volost rules, Poltava public chamber, Kremenchug boundary commission, world mediators. The autographs of Panas Myrny are saved in the fund of public chamber.

Among materials of the Poltava civil governor, police-offices, separate courts the presented documents are about activity of the Kremenchug social democratic group (1897), Poltava group RSDRP (1901), Poltava, Kostyantynograd and Romney of committees of RSDRP (1905-1906); about activity of underground printing-houses and spreaders of illegal literature, about strikes, mass meetings and demonstrations, directed against autocracy, about revolutionary motion in a province the day before and in a period of the first Russian revolution, disorder soldier Sevsky and Elecky of regiments in Poltava (1906), peasant appearances, in a that number in Velikie Sorochintsy village of Mirgorod district and Ckryva Ruda ofKhorol district and suppression of them by punitive detachments. Boundary books are saved in the fund of the Poltava boundary chamber, plans with economic and statistical description of landownership.

There are metrical books in the documents of cult establishments, confession information of churches of the Poltava diocese with pointing of amount of courts, amount and to composition population of the inhabited items.

Period ofUkrainian revolution 1917-1920 years presented in the documents of fund of Poltava Advice of workings and peasant deputies; there are protocols, resolutions, lectures, correspondences about a present moment, strikes of workers, infatuation for the peasants of squire earths in the documents. In the fund of public Prosecutor of the Poltava circuit court there are documents about activity of Simon Petlyura, to the row of revolutionary parties on Poltava region after 1890-1919 years.

Documents of the Poltava and Kremenchug province revolutionary committees and province executive committees, circuitous executive committees of Kremenchug, Lubny and Poltava, executive committees of districts represent organization and work of local authorities in the Poltava region, nationalization of industrial enterprises and squire estates, forced collectivization, liquidation of written unlanguage, skilled policy of soviet power. In these funds there are protocols of province, circuitous and district conventions of Advices, conferences of non-party workers and peasants.

In the documents of circuitous executive committee, commissions and committees of poor peasants there is information about the violent handing over of bread, about the antipeasant policy of soviet power which caused the row of peasant revolts in the Poltava region in 1920-1922 years.

An archive keeps documents about losses, inflicted by nazi occupation to the region, to the districts and inhabited items, enterprises, collective farms and separate citizens; about proceeding in the economy of region blasted by war.

In the funds of regional executive committee, departments and managements of this committee, development on Poltava region of the accrued industries of economy status is represented (booty and processing of oil and gas, motor industry, production of artificial diamonds, gas-unloading lamps and other); all spheres of life of population.

There are funds of industrial enterprises of the Poltava region. Renewal and state of agriculture of the Poltava region of post-war time is represented in the funds of regional management of soviet economies, region and district managements of agriculture, MTS, DTS, state farms and collective farms.

The funds of organizations of transport and connection give imagination about building of roads, bridges, organization, development and work of motor transport, postal, telegraph and public-call networks, installation of radio of settlements of enterprises and collective farms.

In the funds of archive materials of point-of-sale, procurement, purveying and co-operative organizations, organizations of communal economy are saved domestic consumer services of population.

The funds of health protection, public welfare and trade-union organizations characterize medical and sanitary service of population, expansion of network of medical establishments, fight against epidemic and other diseases, medical providing, labour and domestic arranging of war invalids, guard of mother and child and others like that.

The documents of establishments of folk and professional education, cultural and educational organizations tell about cultural activity in region. There are documents about activity of child's labour commune in the Tribi village near Poltava which was headed by prominent teacher A.S. Makarenko.

In the documents of archive measures found a reflection on a guard, restoration of monuments of history and culture, establishment of memorable signs and memorial plaques, organization and work of state, folk regional and literary and memorial museums.

The funds of the personal origin are saved in an archive. Among them there are archives of scientist, surgeon M.V. Sklifosovskogo; correspondent of Academy of sciences, director of the Poltava gravimetrical observatory Z.M. Aksent'eva, collection of documents of veterans of Poltava tractor school and others.

In a fund there is interesting information about musical life of Poltava of beginning XX of age. There is information about unique sights of nature of Poltava region.

Documentary photographs represent public, political, economic, scientific and cultural life of Poltava region from the end XIX age is to our days.

The documents of party, komsomol organs, primary organizations of Komsomol Party of Ukraine, funds of the personal origin, supervisory bodies of party, political departments, party committees, documents of party colleges and party commissions, collection of documents of partisan motion, which operated in the years of war on Poltava region, are saved in the funds of department of public associations. A department keeps the documents of prisoner of war red army soldiers and persons, deported to Germany.

Literature on Poltava land history, reports of Poltava governors, surveys of the agriculture, memorandum books, reports of provincial ruling bodies, the works of Poltava scientific archive committee, materials of census of households in provinces. There are publications kept on archive and library works, world-wide history, sociology, philosophy, law etc. periodicals presented by the central and local newspapers. Informational systems of the library are indexes and thematic catalogues.